Once Socha Management gets past some red tape, a key economic corridor in Glenville is set for another new development.
The Glenville Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, Aug. 13, was scheduled to vote on the final site plan review for Shady Lane Realty, LLC, to construct its new three-story mixed use building on the 9.8-acre Socha Plaza property located on Route 50 in Glenville, but there was a slight bump in the process.
Before the commission could give final approval, the developer must receive the necessary variances from the town Zoning Board of Appeals, which is scheduled to meet on Monday, Aug. 27. Variances needed include the building’s height, lighting and a set back where Socha is essentially asking itself to impede on its own property.
Gavin Vuillaume, landscape architect for Environmental Design Partnership and representing the developer, said he believes the zoning board will approve the variances. A county referral not being sent before the zoning board’s previous meeting delayed the process.
The three-story, 60,000-square-foot building is planned to hold a variety of uses and will be designed to hold retail, offices and corporate apartments. Socha Management is planning to invest around $9 million in the facility, which would be located in open space between Socha Plaza and its professional building Socha Plaza South.
Company President William Socha previously expressed interest to offer an established local restaurateur space at the building, too, based on feedback from community members.
The three uses would have 132 parking spaces at the site, allowing for ample parking, Vuillaume said. The existing entrances would be maintained and improvements are planned for the entrance to Socha Plaza at the streetlight. A pedestrian walkway would also adjoin existing facilities and residences.
“We’ve really come to a really good layout here that I think the planning board and the zoning board are comfortable with,” Vuillaume said. “We feel that it is a nice added benefit to this project that we are starting to begin to link some of the other areas of the site to this location.”
The company owns and manages Shady Lane Apartments with 444 garden apartments, a 40,000-square-foot retail plaza, two office buildings totaling 30,000 square feet and a 1,300-square-foot building for traveling executives, which is all clustered on Route 50 in Glenville.
Planning Commission Chairman Michael Carr, along with fellow board members, expressed support for the project, but there was one letter submitted in objection to the development based on the groundwater drainage concerns.
Frederick and Carolyn Glaser, of Skyway Drive in Scotia, live adjacent to Socha Plaza and said the land behind the plaza is designated federal wetlands, while the property behind the Glasers is state wetlands.
“The drainage pipe leading from the state wetland back into The Return (a residential neighborhood) was installed too high and has never worked to drain excess water as it should,” the Glasers’ letter said. “Before The Return, the wetlands mostly dried up for at least a full month in the summer, but now are always full of water.”
The large body of water has spurred an abundance of mosquitoes, the couple said, which they fear could be a health risk. Also, they claimed since The Return was built, the water levels in the wetlands have risen.
Planning members did acknowledge there are drainage issues around the area mentioned, but the development wouldn’t exacerbate any existing drainage problem.
The County IDA, administered by Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority, is planning to provide a waiver on sales tax for building materials used to construct the new building and a payment in lieu of tax (PILOT) agreement on the new building. The company would continue paying 100 percent of its taxes on the land where the project would be built.
